Type form clamp



TYPE FORM CLAMP Filed 0ct. 3, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 26, 1940. L; S LF 2,194,812

TYPE FORM CLAMP Filed Oct. 3, 1938 '3 Sheets-Sheet 2 13 fya; fliim Patented Mar. 26, 1940 PATENT orries TYPE FORM CLAMP Clarence L. Self, Minneapolis, Minn, assignor to V. B. McGuire Manufacturing Company,

Northfield, Minn, a partnership composed of said Self and V. B. McGuire Application October 3, 1938, Serial No. 233,060

3 Claims.

My present invention provides an improved device herein designated as a type form clamp, the purpose and function of which is to clamp together assembled type or type bars in a self-contained group representing, for example and preferably, the assembled type for the printing of a full page of a book. Hitherto, it has been the common practice to use a string or twine to temporarily tie up such assembled type or type 10, bars while they are being transferred to a chase wherein usually the, type for the simultaneous printing of a plurality of pages will be locked up. Certain mechanical devices for the use as a substitute for the tie-up string have been proposed,

15. but for numerous reasons they have not been satisfactory,

My invention provides a clamping device that meets all of the requirements of an eificient de,

vice for the purposes indicated and which may be locked up in the chase with the assembled page groups of type. This clamping device, therefore, remains applied to the groups of type during the printing operation so" that if the groups of type are not to be immediately broken up but are going 25, to be used again, they may be removed from the chase with their clamping devices and stored away until again used. The various features which make this improved clamp usable as above indicated and which moreover afford various other important advantages will be more fully discussed after having first described the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views. Referring to the drawings: Fig. 1 is a perspective with some parts broken away showing a printer's galley, and assembled type bars for one page of the improved clamping device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 shows a group of type bars for printing a page removed from the galley and held assembled by the improved clamping device;

Fig. Bis a fragmentary perspective showing the lower lefthand corner of the assembly of Fig. 2;

partly in horizontal section on the line 8 -8 of Fig. 7.

Referring now and first to Fig. 1, the numeral N) indicates an ordinary printers galley and numeral ll indicates assembled'type bars such, for example, as produced by Linotype machines of the Mergenthaler type. These Linotype bars, as is well known, are true rectilinear bodies with a smooth, flat side, ends and bottom and with type cast on their upper edges.

In the assembled unit, best shown in detail in Fig. 2, stock channel slugs I2 are placed against the tops and bottoms of the assembled columns of type bars with their ends flush with the sides formed by the ends of the assembled type bars. These slugs l2 are quite rigid metalbars of less vertical height than the type bars and are formed with longitudinal channels I3. A parting strip [4, which is a customary article of furniture in printing for ruling or printing of a line between the printed columns, is inserted between the assembled columns of type bars. The clamping bars for connecting the channeled slugs l 2 are tie bars I5, sometimes designated as clips, and are quite thin, fiat metal bars preferably of spring steel, which, at their ends, are provided with laterally inwardly bent reversely curved spring clamping tongues l6 that are insertable into the channels 13 of the slugs l2. These tongues l6 are of less width than the tie bars l5 and the lower-edges of the tie bars l5 extend to the bottoms of the type bars so that they, as well as the type and the line printing strip I4, will rest fiat on the bottom of the galley'and also on the bottom of the printing chase in which the unit will be assembled for later printing. This construction and arrangement of the tie or clamping bars is important for several reasons.

In assembling the type bars and cooperating clamping elements in the galley, the first column of type barswill be set up, the line printing or spacing strip l4 will be applied, and then the second column of type bars will .be set up. Then after the tie bar shown in Fig. 1 has been completely applied, the assembled type will be slid over toward the other side of the galleyand a like tie bar will then be applied to the, opposite side of the type assembly.

The further and highly important facts will also be noted by reference particularly to Figs. 2,

3 and 8, to wit, when the tie bars and the slugs are clamped around the assembled lines of type bars, they form a rectangular enclosing frame, the interior of which is truly rectangular with its inner corners at points marked a on Fig. 8 and with the outer corners of the rectangular enclosing structure at points marked b. In projection of either of the elements l2 or [5 at the corners or elsewhere beyond these rectangular inner and outer surfaces it would prevent assembling of the units of Fig. 2 in the galley as shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Fig. 5 shows a plurality of the units of Fig. 2 assembled in a printers chase ll. of course, the number of units can be varied, but in the drawings, Fig. 5, nine such units for the simultaneous printing of nine pages are shown as assembled; in thus assembling the units, spacing bars I I8 are placed against and between the units, and pressure bar [9 is shown as placed against one of the outside spacing bars l8. This pressure bar I9 is put under pressure and tightly clampedbythe customary wedge-acting quoins 20 and spacing blocks 2 l. The slugs or bars I2, at the one side of the assembly, are shown as directly engaged by spacing blocks 22, which in turn, are pressed by clamping bar 23 put under pressure by wedgeacting quoins 24and spacing blocks 25.

When the elements are assembled, as shown in Fig. 5, the thin tie bars IE will be tightly pressed against the ends of the type bars and against the spacing bars 18 so that they simply cooperate with the Spacing bars 18 to properly space the type.

The clamping devices described, including the tie bars [5 and slugs l2, therefore function not only primarily to hold the type together after it has been assembled and while it is being transferred to the printing chase, but also unction during the printing operation or while the type is in the chase; it therefore follows that when the assembled type bars are to be later or again used after first removing from the chase and the performance of the initial printing action, the type as assembled units can be removed and held in an assembled condition ready for a second or later use in the printing of matter set up on the type.

The slugs, indicated in the drawings at 12, are stock items in common use in the printing industry and do not require special made bars with slotted ends and the like. In the drawings the type are shown as Linotype made up of individual type assembled in lines or bar-like arrangement.

In common practice it has been the custom to place inserts of cardboard or the like between page lines to prevent what is termed as work ups caused by upward springing of the type form due to lock up pressure where no sinker strips are used. In the utilizing of my invention, the thin, flat tie bars l5, which engage only the lower portions of the type, further answer the purpose of sinker strips. The ease with which these bars 15 may be applied has already been described and is particularly illustrated by reference to Fig. 1, wherein the lower edges of the bars l5, sliding on the bottom of the galley, direct the tongues 56 into engagement with the channels l3 of the slugs 12.

What I claim is:

1. A type-form clamping device comprising a pair of channeled slugs adapted to be placed one against the top and one against the bottom of a group of type bars or lines of individual type, the channel in said slugs being extended longitudinally from end to end thereof in materially spaced relation to the lower edge of the slugs, and a pair of laterally spaced tie bars adapted to be placed fiat wise directly against opposite sides of the group of type bars or lines of individual type, said tie bars being formed at their ends with inwardly bent resilient tongues adapted to he engaged in the channels of said slugs and being so spaced from the bottom edges of the tie bars that the tie bars will be flush with the bottom oi the slugs when said resilient tongues are seated in the slug channels.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, in which the said slugs and tie bars are of less vertical depth than the type to be enclosed therein and in which the tie bars are of less vertical depth than the depth of the slugs below the upper edges of the channels therein.

3. The combination with a rectangular group of type bars or lines of individual type, of a pair of longitudinally channeled slugs of lengths corresponding to the widths of the type group, and placed one against the top and one against the :ottozn of the type group, the said slugs having their lower edges aligned with the lower edges of the type group and being of less vertical depth than the type of said group, the channels of said slugs extending from end to end thereof and being materially spaced from the upper and lower edges of the slugs, and a pair of flat, longitudinally straight resilient spring steel tie bars placed flat-wise directly against opposite sides of the type group with their bottom edges aligned with the bottom edges of the type group, said spring steel tie bars being formed at their opposite ends with laterally inwardly bent and reversely curved resilient tongues seated in the ends of said slug channels, the upper edges of said tongues being aligned and continuous with the upper edges of the tie bars and the lower edges thereof being materially offset from the bottoms of the tie bars.

, CLARENCE L. SELF. 

